20th Century Isms Flashcards
In what time and place did expressionism flourish?
Before, during, and after WWI in Germany and Austria
Expressionism first appeared in what disciplines?
visual art and literature
What is the general premise of expressionism?
an extravagant and apparently chaotic surface conveys turbulence in the composer’s psyche
Who are the major expressionist composers (narrow definition)?
Schoenberg’s post-tonal, pre-dodecaphonic output; some Berg and Webern
What is a psychogram?
a chart on which personality traits are marked according to a guiding psychological viewpoint
What composer is credited with creating the starting point for expressionism?
Wagner, especially Kundry’s music in Parsifal
What separates expressionism from Wagner?
avoiding cadences, repetition, sequence, balanced phrases, and reference to formal or procedural models
Who are the major expressionist composers (looser definition)?
Mahler, Skryabin, Hauer, Stravinsky, Szymanowski, Bartók, Hindemith, Ives, Krenek and others
What is problematic about classifying certain important stage works of the 1920s by Weill, Hindemith, and Krenek?
They retain expressionist charateristics visually and in text, but not in music
What is a more journalistic/wider application of expressionism?
any music in any era where self-expression eclipses coherence or flouts convention
Who is credited with coining the term, expressionism? When?
English art critic, Roger Eliot Fry (1909) to contrast with the passivity of impressionism
Who first applied Expressionism to music?
Heinz Tiessen (1920) and Arnold Schering (1919)
What was the German equivalent to the term expressionism?
Ausdrucksmusik
Expressionist proponents cite a desire to elevate what aspects of music?
non-referential, purely expressive, not influenced by extraneous impulses (arts/humanities)
Which 1920-1921 periodicals hosted a war of words about the “healthiness” of modern music/expressionism?
Allgemeine Musikzeitung and Melos
What is ironic about the 1920-1921 debates over expressionism?
The works we now cite as classic expressionism were written then, but not well-known until almost a decade later
Early mentions of expressionism almost always connect it to what?
the world of the unconsious
Kandinsky refered to the unconscious as what?
“the inner reality”
Expressionists connect the unconscious with what?
Truth and freedom from the “lie” of convention and tradition
What two elements did Schoenberg set as opposites?
truth and beauty
What Schoenberg song cycle is often regarded as one of his earliest expressionist?
Das Buch der hängenden Gärten
Citing inner compulsion negated what?
criticism based on professional skill, beauty, or other traditionally accepted values
What 1910 maxim of Schoenberg summarizes his approach to Expressionism? Who first promulgated the phrase?
“Art comes not from ability but from necessity.” Paul Fechter in his book: Expressionism (1914)
What sound is a centeral topos of expressionism? Why?
the scream; the outer manifestation of inner suffering without any kind of traditional buffer
What elements often led expressionists to political extremes?
anti-bourgeois/anti-establishment tone; emphasis on inner transformation
Expressionism flourished most in what literary genre? Why? Why does that translate easily to music?
poetry and theatre rather than novels; disdain for concrete meaning and narrative; concrete meaning has rarely been a part of music
How did musicians use and apply the term expressionism?
They rarely used it, and almost never referred to themselves as an expressionist; rather, it was a state of mind
What is celebrated as Schoenberg’s watershed expressionist composition?
Second String Quartet (1907-8), gradually becomes freer from late-Romantic language and form. (Last two movements include a solo soprano)
What circumstances are connected to the composition of Schoenberg’s 2nd String Quartet?
his wife had an affair with painter Richard Gerstl; when she returned to Schoenberg, Gerstl committed suicide
What year was the high point of Schoenberg’s Expressionist output? What piece, specifically?
1909; Erwartung
Describe the genre and plot of Erwartung
One act monodrama; a woman search for her lover at night finds his dead body, goes crazy, and confesses to his murder
How is Erwartung representative of expressionism?
written very quickly; avoids repetition; denies stability of any kind including tempo; chromatic harmony to a point of static; texture swinging from paralysis and hyperactivity
Erwartung influenced whom?
Berg
Why was Berg less expressionist in his compositions?
His compositions tend to have more surface beauty and leanings toward constructivism
Why did expressionism flourish and decline?
No longer needing patronage, artists explored their freedom; no longer connecting to audiences, they sought to reconnect and become more relevant
What was a major problem with expressionism?
no way to support large-scale pieces except for with texts
What quote by Kasimir Edschmid exemplifies expressionists’ relationship to realism?
“The World is out there…it would be absurd to reproduce it.”
What is neue sachlichkeit?
A form of neo-classicism that retained a version of expressionist mannerisms with a more sober aesthetic outlook
Why did Expressionism experience a resurgence after WWII?
Any art movement that had been stigmatized by the Nazis was “sympathetically reconsidered”
When did Neo-Classicism flourish? What are its primary characteristics?
Between the two world wars; balanced forms, clear thematic processes
What was Neo-Classicism reacting to?
exaggerated gestures and formlessness of late Romanticism
Who traced the history and evolution of the term “Neo-Classicism”?
Scott Messing (1988)
How can one see neo-classicism in a light other than regressive or nostalgic?
Because of the implementation of extended harmonic language, it often demonstrates a “multiplicity of awareness” that is only possible from a modern perspective
With what term is neo-classicism often synonomous?
postmodernism (except for historical sequence, pm relating to after the 1950s)
When in visual arts was “neo-classicism” applied?
late 18th and early 19th century, in the 1920s to certain painters (Matisse, Picasso)
Neue Sachlichkeit refers to who?
artists who rejected expressionism in favor of economy of means and positive expression
What was the chief aim of Neo-Classicism?
reacting to the excesses of expressionism, an attempt to refine and control expression, not to eliminate it
Neo-Classicism was first applied to what composer?
Stravinsky in 1923
Taruskin equated neo-classicism with what?
the historical performance movement, “a tendentious journey back to where we had never been”
Who said referred to Neo-classicism as “the historical performance movement”, “a tendentious journey back to where we had never been”
Taruskin
Stravinsky Craft conversations see neo-classicism as what? Vs. What?
“period of formulation” following the “period of exploration”
Stravinsky Craft conversations see what three schools of neo-classicism?
Stravinsky, Hindemith, and Schoenberg (12-tone, but relating in terms of texture and form)
How does Boulez differentiate between Stravinsky and Schoenberg?
Stravinsky was tonal and Schoenberg was chromatic
What two Schoenberg pieces are typical of his neo-classicism?
dance movements from the Piano Suite Op. 25 (1921-1923) and sonata-form first movement of Wind Quintet op. 26 (1923-4)
Stravinsky-Craft defines the height of Expressionism as occurring in what year?
1912 (Pierrot lunaire, for example)
Why is it difficult to label a given composer as neo-classical?
some compositions may seem more neo-classical or more expressionist than others, depending on the goals and state of mind for the composer on a given day. Few were consistently one or the other
What is one danger of Neo-Classicism as an analytical term?
It may result in unnecessary oversimplification
When and where did constructivism originate?
Russia, 1919
What did constructivism advocate and reject?
Advocated art as a social practice, rejected artistic autonomy
Constructivism placed a high premium on what?
making the viewer more active in experiencing the artwork
Define minimalism.
A term borrowed from the visual arts, music characterized by an intentionally simplified rhythmic, melodic, and harmonic vocabulary.
What did minimalism react to?
modernism, including the serialism of Boulez/Stockhausen and the indeterminacy of Cage
What are some major influences on minimalism?
non-Western music, jazz, and rock
What were core principals of minimalists?
openly seeking greater accessibility through tonality/modality, regular and continuous rhythms, and simple structures/textures
Whose music in what period typifies minimalism?
Philip Glass in the 1980s and 1990s